Funnyman Omid Djalili to headline Burnley Mechanics

OMID Djalili is one of Britain’s finest stand-ups. He is a rare type of comedian who is capable of provoking huge laughter and profound thought at the same time.

And yet he has not toured for three-and-ahalf years. But all that is about to change. Omid is hitting the road with a new show, Tour of Duty, which stops at Burnley Mechanics on Friday, October 21st, at 8 p.m.

Omid, who has won Time Out, South Bank Show and Emma Awards for his comedy as well as being a Perrier nominee, promises to wow audiences. He is a dazzling live act, fizzing with energy, fantastic character comedy, killer lines, razor-sharp wit and expertly-crafted cultural observations.

Omid has not been idle in the intervening years since his last tour. He has made two highly successful series of his own comedy show for BBC1, as well as starring as Fagin in the West End production of Oliver!, a US sitcom for NBC “The Paul Reiser Show”, the Howard Marks’ film, “Mr Nice”, and David Baddiel’s movie, “The Infidel”.

As always, Omid, a deep thinker about comedy, has worked hard on the structure of the show.

According to the comedian: “It’s based on an Eleanor Roosevelt quote about the different levels of thinking. She said, ‘Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds only talk about other people’.

“In stand-up, you do all those things – you talk about other people, you make sense of events and you elevate lofty ideas.

“Once you have set up the concept that great minds think about ideas, then you can say things like, ‘Doesn’t Ed Milliband look like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit?’”

Tickets for Omid Djalili’s Tour of Duty are £19 and are available from the Burnley Mechanics box office on 664400 or visit www.burnleymechanics.co.uk.